Support of the Prisoners of Conscience In the Arabian Peninsula

THE  COMMITTEE   FOR  THE  DEFENSE  OF  HUMAN  RIGHTS  IN

THE  ARABIAN  PENINSULA 

DATE  : 19 / 05/ 2002  

NO  : 116/ H / 2002 

The polices of siege, suppression and curbing the freedoms are characteristics of Saudi internal policy which its written laws and provisions do not guarantee the safeguards of application them.

These policies began to tend towards dangerous turning point undermining all basis of stability , social and political security which are suffering of deep-rooted defects.

One of these bad policies which practiced persistently by the regime despite the changes in the internal positions on the political , social and educational levels, is the manner of ignoring the people and denying their role which guaranteed by Islamic Shari'ah and human rights standards .

The best example of what we say was the brutal attack by the regime against thousands of people who demonstrated in support of the Palestinians through the country.

The Saudi authorities treated the demonstrators with brutal arrests and subjected them to beating by sticks and electric batons without mercy. The arrests included a lot of women and children, almost 150 women who subjected to torture and beating.

According to reliable sources reported our Committee that 15 citizens from Eastern Province in Qatif are still held under the charge of organizing those demonstrations in Qatif, Safwa and Awwamiyah between 5/4/2002     to    27/4/2002.

The above-mentioned sources stated that the regime tried to force the arrested citizens ( Ali a -Qub'a, 28, and  Zuhair al-Fakhr, 24 ) to sign confessions that they were the responsible of those demonstrations , but the two citizens refused the charges , they were then transferred to Awwamiyah Prison.

The regime also sentenced all the demonstrators to unknown prison terms , imposed them (5000 S.R) and dismissed them from their jobs under the charge of sabotage of public property .

On one hand, some members of al-Mabahith al-'Amma arrested the citizen Abdul Kareem Abo Khamsin , from al-Hufonf in Ihsaa, who was a head of Faisaliyah Charity. His arrest came within the framework of arrests against people who were sympathy with Palestinian people and under the charge of gathering donation for Palestinian uprising .